Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
Patricia listened to Weedy dodge the question about Jane spreading rumours about Sis with approval. They didn't like squealers in this household.
"Clemmy said a little, but there's people around town talking." Sort of true, but mentioning Clemmy...probably not too smart!
"Hmm, Clemmy gets the blame for a lot of stuff around here" said Little Patty ruefully "Jane blames herself for her death, I think that's why she pretends her ghost is hanging around; but actually she was a naughty and very willful little girl who did exactly what she wanted, it was her own fault what happened."
The older girl's frankness was almost frightening. She certainly didn't mince words.
"I think Jane hates Cicely here because she thinks she's taking Clemmy's place in the family. Really they should get on with each other: they've got something very important in common: they both saw their twin killed in front of them."
It was all a bit intense! Luckily Sis lightened the mood, suddenly laughing as the puppy-dog in her lap wriggled onto his back to have his tummy rubbed "The dog's funny!" the simple girl exclaimed.
"His name is Farley," he now addressed Big Sis, trying to divert attention. "He's a boy and lives at my house."
Sis chuckled at such an idiotic statement, shaking her massive head, making her chins wobble. "He's a dog not a boy!" she corrected Weedy.
Patricia smiled at the exchange.
"I'm glad Jane has a friend" she announced, looking kindly on Weedy "... you're adopted aren't you?" Again, her frankness bordered on the rude; although you got the impression that she would not hold it against you if you were equally frank with her.
"Yes, Miss." Weedy nodded. "Miss Addy's my ma now." Not that there was a legal ruling on the matter, and not that he would know the difference, and not that he would care. And for anyone who had been around town for any length of time, the details would pretty much be known, but the P-Fs were new to town, but Weedy didn't care to explain.
"Yes, sure, he's a dog," Weedy agreed with Big Sis, no sense not agreeing, since she didn't seem to understand the difference. "Miss Addy...Ma brought him home, found him out on the trail...she drives wagons and stages." He grinned. "All covered in mud, Farley was! Me and Jane cleaned him up. He likes you!"
What was it Addy always said? Animals knew people and could tell the good from the bad.
"Yes, Miss." Weedy nodded. "Miss Addy's my ma now."
"Yes, sure, he's a dog," Weedy agreed with Big Sis, no sense not agreeing, since she didn't seem to understand the difference. "Miss Addy...Ma brought him home, found him out on the trail...she drives wagons and stages." He grinned. "All covered in mud, Farley was! Me and Jane cleaned him up. He likes you!"
Big Sis carried on loving the puppy in her lap with a dopey grin on her placid face, occasionally glancing at Weedy as he told her all about the pup. She seemed pleased when Weedy said the mutt liked her.
Talking about canines, Patricia Patterson Forde, too, was like a dog with the proverbial bone, doggedly returning to the subject of Weedy's antecedents.
"My mother mentioned that you were originally from a place called Whitefish, is that right? The place was burned to the ground during a snowstorm, I believe?" she asked.
She fixed Weedy with a firm, but not unkindly, glance through her spectacles "Please believe me, I do have a good reason for asking. It is not mere idle curiosity."
"Oh, no, Miss," Weedy shook his head. "I was born here in Kalispell, only been to Whitefish once, after..." He paused for a moment, then explained, "My Ma was there to get married, that's what Miss Addy said, so I would have had a real family."
He had mixed feelings about the whole thing, but he wanted to believe that his ma had finally found a man who would take care of her -- of them -- and give them a good life. Of course, that made the thing all the more sad, given his ma had finally found something good.
"There was a lot of snow that Winter," he continued, "they said some roofs collapsed, and then some of the buildings caught fire. Strange, huh, that things can burn in that much snow."
"Oh, no, Miss," Weedy shook his head. "I was born here in Kalispell, only been to Whitefish once, after..."
The girl blurted an involuntary "Oh Good!" and looked a little relieved.
"My Ma was there to get married, that's what Miss Addy said, so I would have had a real family."
"Would have...?" the look of relief disappeared from the young woman's face as quickly as it had come.
"There was a lot of snow that Winter," he continued, "they said some roofs collapsed, and then some of the buildings caught fire. Strange, huh, that things can burn in that much snow."
"Not when someone sets fire to the buildings on purpose." Patricia said quietly, she looked at Weedy seriously. "Whitefish was set on fire by a very wicked man called Thomas Gage Love, you've probably heard of him, he's an outlaw..."
Big Sis had suddenly stiffened at the name and was making a strange humming noise under her heavy breath as she continued to mechanically pet the puppy.
"... he is also the author of poor Cicely's misfortunes." Patricia added.
"Tom Love don't come here do he?" Sis asked jerkily, Farley looked up and whimpered a little at the agitation in the big girl's deep voice.
"No, don't worry, Cicely... he isn't coming here" the girl with the spectacles tried to reassure the big girl, but she didn't sound altogether convinced herself.
"Someone burned all that on purpose?" Weedy asked, not quite willing to believe that someone could be so evil. "Why'd..?" It didn't make sense, but then, there was a lot about adults that didn't make sense. And then he had to wonder if his Ma had been killed when the roof collapsed, or when...well, he didn't want to think about that.
"Never heard of no Mr. Love," he declared, "I don't think he's been around town, but maybe." He knew most all the regular folks in town, and most of the cowboys and miners who came by on occasion. And, curious lad that he was, he tried to find out what he could about strangers passing through. "Miss Addy might know, or maybe the Marshal?"
Best give me the baby, Mrs Pike
"Someone burned all that on purpose?" Weedy asked, not quite willing to believe that someone could be so evil. "Why'd..?"
"Easy... to cause chaos during a robbery. Also because Love loves causing pain and misery" Patricia said with some authority. Funny, for a relatively new arrival in town, the girl seemed very well informed about events that had befallen the ill-fated fledgling community of nearby Whitefish a year and a half ago.
"Never heard of no Mr. Love," he declared "I don't think he's been around town, but maybe."
"You'd know about it if he did come here" Patricia told him. "He'd be robbing the bank"
"Miss Addy might know, or maybe the Marshal?"
"Next time you go into the Marshall's office, have a look at the wanted posters: there you will see the dregs of humanity including... him." the normal sized young woman said, but then the giantess blurted in.
"His fault my brother got shot. He... he toldded him to do what he did and Mrs Pike shot him. Tom Love told him to do it an'... an'..." further elucidation seemed to elude her and she came to a stammering halt.
"Cicely's brother was an innocent..." she meant it in the old fashioned way, as in 'a simpleton' "... Thomas Love filled his head with a lot of nonsense about Mr Pike being his father and hating him and... oh, all sorts of rubbish. Then he sent him down into the Pike place to shoot the family."
"Tom made Clem angry. I was scared he'd hurt the baby. I tried to save the baby, but Missus Pike though I was bein bad an Mister Pike shotted me." Cicely added.
"He told you Deputy Pike is your real pa?" Well, Weedy could certainly understand the yearning to know who your pa was, he had no idea -- his mother had taken that secret to her grave. Some might aver that even she didn't know, but he was too young to think of that sort of thing. "I reckon I might believe someone if they told me who my Pa is...not anymore, but when I was little. I think now I don't want to know."
After all, it could be someone horrible, or who had married again and had a whole new family and didn't want him. That would be almost as bad as someone lying about it. And it made sense in a skewed sort of way that Sis had been wanting to protect the baby while her brother was trying to kill Mrs. Pike. And there was the problem.
"But just because you don't like someone or what they say, you shouldn't try to kill them," he declared. "'Sicks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me'." Eww, he sounded like an adult!
"I guess...well, if I thought someone was trying to hurt Miss Addy, I'd..." Well, he wasn't so sure, but he was pretty sure he'd shoot someone if he had to!
"He told you Deputy Pike is your real pa?"
"Uh huh" Sis nodded dumbly.
"I reckon I might believe someone if they told me who my Pa is...not anymore, but when I was little. I think now I don't want to know."
Patricia studied young 'Weedy' forming a rather agreeable opinion of the lad. Girls were apt to develop some strange and unsuitable romantic obsessions, especially around their first crush, but her little sister Jane had chosen well here, and without knowing that the Pattison Forde family owed young Porter a secret sort of debt of honor which neither Jane nor he knew of.
"But just because you don't like someone or what they say, you shouldn't try to kill them," he declared. "'Sicks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me'." Eww, he sounded like an adult!
"Tom Love's words hurted my brother" Sis pointed out the fact glumly.
"Mmmm, we all need to think carefully before we hurt anybody with words or bullets, don't we?" Patricia said gently.
"I guess...well, if I thought someone was trying to hurt Miss Addy, I'd..." Well, he wasn't so sure, but he was pretty sure he'd shoot someone if he had to!
"Well, of course, if a man was physically attacking her, then you'd shoot the varmint right between the eyes." agreed the prim looking girl in the spectacles "But if another lady was running after her down the street, you might rather interpose yourself between them, or restrain the other lady, hmm? Rather than fill her full of lead."
The sound of Jane and Forde coming down the wooden stairs told them that this little tête-à-tête was drawing to a close, but before the other two rejoined them, Patricia smiled at Weedy and told him.
"You know, you and Cicely here have something in common, as does Jane. It would be wonderful if the two of you could be nice to her and help her." she reached out a soft warm hand and placed it on Weedy's "And I hope we two can have another little talk like this very soon." She withdrew her hand just before Jane burst in.
"Well, that was just ridiculous! More came out of his nose than went in at the mouth." Jane fumed as she marched in.
"Yes, it was slightly odd!" agreed Forde.
What they were talking about, nobody knew.
"What have you been talking about?" Jane asked Weedy.
"Well, of course, if a man was physically attacking her, then you'd shoot the varmint right between the eyes." agreed the prim looking girl in the spectacles "But if another lady was running after her down the street, you might rather interpose yourself between them, or restrain the other lady, hmm? Rather than fill her full of lead."
Weedy shrugged, not sure that he held to the notion that women couldn't be as deadly as men should they choose. He knew that Miss Addy had shot men, for good cause, of course, and there was something she'd done that she wouldn't even talk about when she and Miss Caroline were taken by the Injuns, so he reckoned that if she decided to be a bad guy, she'd be really bad!
But he didn't have to answer that question, as Jane and her brother came back into the room.
"You know, you and Cicely here have something in common, as does Jane. It would be wonderful if the two of you could be nice to her and help her." she reached out a soft warm hand and placed it on Weedy's "And I hope we two can have another little talk like this very soon." She withdrew her hand just before Jane burst in.
"Uh huh..." The little tingling he'd felt confused and distressed him, but he pushed that aside, determined more than ever not to get too sweet with a girl!
"Well, that was just ridiculous! More came out of his nose than went in at the mouth." Jane fumed as she marched in.
"Yes, it was slightly odd!" agreed Forde.
What they were talking about, nobody knew.
"What have you been talking about?" Jane asked Weedy.
"Things." Weedy shrugged, knowing that wasn't going to be enough, and realizing how much easier it was to talk to Addy. "Just that Miss Cicely got lied to." The Reader's Digest version!